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Fairway faces mice problem in Manhattan store

NEW YORK (AP) — Just as Fairway looks to go public, the grocery chain faces an unwanted visitor at one of its New York stores: Mice.

Video footage at a Fairway store on Manhattan's Upper West Side shows a mouse in one of the store's open olive bins. The footage, shot after midnight on Wednesday inside the grocery store, was posted on a neighborhood blog devoted to the Upper West Side called MyUpperWest.com. It follows a posting earlier this month on the same blog that showed a rodent scurrying across the floor at the same store.

The incident was caused by "the massive construction that is happening throughout the immediate vicinity of the store," said Fairway spokesman Bruce Bobbins in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.

"We have done an exhaustive top-to-bottom review of our store and determined that the problem is definitely an external one," Bobbins said. "Moreover, we are firmly committed to having the highest standards in the industry for cleanliness and sanitation. So, we are now taking comprehensive measures and sparing no expense to fully remedy the situation."

He added that Fairway is spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in an effort to fix the rodent problem. This includes new doors, walls and floors reinforced with diamond plating and new produce cases.

Fairway Group Holdings Corp. filed paperwork Monday to take its chain public. It has 11 stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.